Taylor the Teacher

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People sometimes say to me, “I don’t know how you can do it.”

Sometimes I act like I don’t know what they mean and make them say it. “Work in the public schools. Those kids.”

And I agree.

But when I agree, I’m thinking, “I don’t know how I put up with all the political/educational/institutional bullshit that you and other unknowing and largely uncaring taxpayers put me through. I’m at a loss myself.“

I really don’t know how I wake up to the morning news telling me how I’m failing at my job and then get in my car to drive to work to hear talk radio telling me the same. And all I hear from you media folks is how the “drive-by” media is so liberal, and the “talk” radio is so conservative. If I gave a shit what any of you said, I’d think I was certainly the worst thing to ever warp a child, since you hate each other, but you manage to agree that I suck at my job.

I don’t know how I listen to administrators scream and belittle me over the loudspeaker before first period even starts in the morning.  I have had assistant principles so berate and disrespect teachers over the very loud speaker at school that students look at me in shock.  Even the students (you know, those criminals everyone is worried about?)  who are SUPPOSED to test the authority of teachers, feel free to comment out loud about the administrator in question, as well as any teacher within earshot.

I don’t know how I am willing to work in a profession which, if I stay for thirty years, my standard of living will be exactly the same is it is today. If I’m lucky. And this with more education (and therefore more student loan debt) than most of the population of America.

I don’t know why I am willing to fight parents who tell their children to ignore what I say, or lie to me to get their kid out of something and then manifest utter surprise, right in the school guidance office mind you, that their child would cheat on a test.

I’ve had a parent threaten a lawshit against the school because a student refused to hand over a cell phone to a substitute teacher and got suspended for it. Taking a cell phone from a student is something we clearly state we will do if a student has the phone out in school. Whether or not I agree with this policy is the subject of another post. Nevertheless, we do our very best educational work on this. We state this policy in several learning modalities in case some kids parents don’t get it. We do it every year, repeatedly. We give out a student handbook. We show a video. We have them sign BOTH that they’ve received the handbook AND that they’ve viewed the video. We’ve sent a letter home about the cell phones to the parents and put this on the website. When the decision first came down from the district it was in the newspaper AND on local access cable. (Too bad we don’t work this hard to get them to learn reading. But then again, parents don’t care about that. They care about cell phones.)

This parent’s brilliant complaint was that it wasn’t HIS cell phone. A girl HANDED it to him, and so he should not have been punished. After all, her son can’t be expected to be discerning about what he holds in his hands.  If a pretty girl gives something to him, he’s obliged to take it.

I don’t know why anyone is surprised that these children don’t know how to act.

But I’m willing to admit I don’t know.  And I’m willing to try to figure it out.

Isn’t that what learning is all about?

But everyone else seems to already know. I should definitely take advice from politicians, parents,  radio freaks, talking heads, pundits and warmongers everywhere who understand the deep mysteries of learning because they went to a public high school.  Twenty years ago. My education has led me far astray.

 Maybe that’s why I still value truth and beauty. And learning. And teenagers.